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Richmond

Located in one of America’s most historic cities, Vinson & Elkins’ Richmond office is home to a team of lawyers who focus on strategic transactions involving real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other specialty finance companies. Collaborating with lawyers from our Corporate, Banking & Finance, Real Estate, Tax and Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits practices, we provide coordinated counsel on all aspects of a REIT’s formation, operation, and investment strategy.

Washington

The lawyers in the Washington, DC, office of Vinson & Elkins provide legal services to domestic and international clients in numerous industries, particularly those with litigation and regulatory matters involving the federal government.

San Francisco

Vinson & Elkins’ San Francisco office focuses on bet-the-company litigation disputes and investigations in the areas of government investigations, antitrust, securities, complex commercial litigation, environmental, complex product liability, class actions, and intellectual property litigation. Our San Francisco office is one of the most dynamic and growing in the Bay Area, and our lawyers represent clients based in Northern California, particularly in the tech space.

New York

Vinson & Elkins' New York office provides high-quality legal services to an array of blue-chip clients, including leading private equity firms, investment banks, and other financial institutions, as well as public and privately held companies in such areas as energy, infrastructure, media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals. Our lawyers in New York focus on capital markets and securities, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, commercial litigation, securities litigation, intellectual property, finance, tax, and restructurings. The office is also home to key members of our leading Shareholder Activism practice.

Houston

Houston is considered the energy capital of the world and is second only to New York in the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters. Born in the midst of the Texas oil boom a century ago, Vinson & Elkins is the largest law firm in Houston and one of the oldest. While known for its energy practice, V&E's Houston office is home to nearly 300 lawyers who handle some of the most high-profile transactions, investments, projects and disputes across the globe.

Dallas

Vinson & Elkins’ Dallas office has grown to become one of the largest law offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with more than 120 lawyers providing legal services to a broad spectrum of national and international clients. The Dallas office is home to many of the firm’s key practice groups and offers a full range of client services in transactional, litigation, and regulatory matters.

Austin

Since opening in Austin in 1979, Vinson & Elkins' lawyers have remained well connected to the city’s many flourishing and diverse industries. Key practices in Austin include intellectual property and life sciences, venture capital, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, environmental, appellate, and regulatory.

Beijing

Vinson & Elkins' Beijing office has been open since 1997, and was one of the first international law firms resident in PRC. Using U.S., English, and Australian lawyers, we provide tailored services for Chinese companies investing abroad, as well as international clients on their business in China.

London

Vinson & Elkins’ London office opened in 1971, making our office one of the oldest London offices of any U.S. law firm. Our London lawyers handle disputes (including international arbitration and High Court litigation), energy transactions and projects, finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and tax.

Riyadh

Vinson & Elkins has represented clients in Saudi Arabia for more than 20 years; since 2011 we have worked in association with the Law Office of Looaye M. Al-Akkas which is staffed by native, Arabic speaking lawyers, all of whom are internationally qualified. This collaboration allows for effective, insightful service to clients both in and outside Saudi Arabia.

Dubai

The Dubai office opened in 2003 and is located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Gate Village 10. It is the coordinating office for the firm’s work in the region and is predominantly staffed by native, Arabic speaking lawyers, all of whom are internationally qualified, enabling us to provide proficient advice both to regional and international clients.

Damara Chambers, an internationally-recognized attorney who advises corporate clients on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), export controls and international trade matters, has joined Vinson & Elkins as a partner and will co-lead the firm’s National Security practice, adding further depth to the practice group.

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Vinson & Elkins is a great place to start or grow your career and we invite you to learn more about our firm, our practices, and our people. With our unique culture that extends across all of our offices, we enjoy working in an environment where we value diverse perspectives, have fun, and deliver outstanding client service.

Author:

How Emojis Can Cause Trouble in the Workplace

As emojis have morphed from a cute novelty into a staple
element of business communication, they have begun to pose liability risks
to companies. Many of these risks stem
from the fact that emojis lack universal definitions, can have multiple — often subjective — meanings, and look
different on different messaging platforms. This means that emoji use can easily lead to misunderstandings
between sender and recipient, which in a business setting can have consequences
ranging from contract claims to allegations of harassment and discrimination. Business litigation in which emojis are key
evidence has increased significantly in recent years, and shows no sign of
abating. Employees’ use of emojis to
supplement text or provide an emotional valence can also enhance liability risk. This occurred memorably in Apatoff v. Munich Re America Services, where
the use of emojis by managers led to denial of a company’s motion for summary
judgment against a claim of wrongful termination under the Family Medical Leave
Act. 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106665
(D.N.J. Aug. 1, 2014). As the court’s
opinion explained:

Ms. Scerbo began her email with a “smiley face emoticon,”
asking “:-)) did Ray chat with you about Elena?” Plaintiff argues that this is a reference to
Plaintiff’s termination, to which Mr. Mauch responded “Yes he did. Thank you for your help. That deserves a big :-))!!!” The Court believes that a reasonable jury could
find that the “emoticons,” attached to the emails of two Munich Re managers
late in the day on which Plaintiff was terminated, are evidence that the
decisionmakers at Munich Re were happy to be able to terminate Plaintiff.

The court found that the managers’ evident happiness contradicted their
testimony regarding Plaintiff’s termination, thus precluding summary
judgment. The emojis were the key
evidence cited by the court.

Emojis have also played roles in sexual harassment cases. In one recent case, the court granted the
employer’s motion for summary judgment on a terminated employee’s sexual
harassment claim noting that the employee could not show that that her
supervisor’s conduct had been “unwelcome” because she had engaged in
flirtatious conduct toward him as evidenced, in part, by the smiley faces in
the messages that she sent to him. (Summary
judgment on Plaintiff’s retaliation claim, however, was denied because the
court found an issue of fact on whether she was terminated because she complained). One can easily see how a supervisor’s
use of emojis could end up supporting a claim of sexual harassment.

Given the problems that can arise from emoji use in the
workplace, even when the emojis are correctly
interpreted, companies would be wise to consider implementing emoji-use
policies. It may be most prudent to
prohibit the use of emojis in employees’ business communications, whether with
customers or other employees. More
technically advanced companies can also disable the use of emojis on their
systems. Although these steps themselves
cannot eliminate inappropriate workplace conduct, they are at least a step
toward eliminating (or at least curtailing) emojis as a source of liability
risk.

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